It is ended and now finally there will be peace for us. In November of 2004, at the old nana (.bz), the staff was informed by Cosy in the moderator's forum that she was informed there would be a hack. She informed us that two people contacted her (who desired to remain anonymous) and they stated we should expect a hack. Around this time the staff was desiring a chat to maintain their connections amongst each other in a convenient manner. Shadowmistress (a rev) set up a chat on her personal server, which we utilized until Cole could set up something for our nana. We were also discussing at this time ideas for a new home page to unify the forum and vibe sites. Shadowmistress was using her personal space to display ideas for that page. She created a dummy forum so that she could link the page.
Eventually, Cole set us up a forum chat and the one Shadow created was abandoned. It was smooth sailing until a hack came on January 2nd, 2005. CritiquingChrist reported to the N99 forum in search of fellow staff members hoping to figure out what occurred. It was through N99 that the staff made contact and it was soon discovered by Shadow that the hack was a random incident by a competition team. The damage was worse than accessed. Every time the ftp was accessed the password would change. It rendered the server unusable.
We needed a new place to go, as soon as possible, because members depended on us, and many were paid users. Shadow, whom by trade does internet hosting, had been offering a free server to Cosy for quite some time, because Cosy often complained about the costs. The staff believed the move to her server would be the perfect solution, not only was it readily available, but we could better realize the vision we had of a support community if we did not have to pay server costs. The staff envisioned hosting more vibe sites, creating a larger model bank, and providing a computer for Cole (because when she was hospitalized her house was broken into, and her computer stolen. Her programs were gone and the lap top she was using was very slow. The intention was a new computer meant more files for the Nana.) We were all very excited in the moderator's forum when a post was made that Cosy verbally agreed to the move. However, since the details for the new server hadn't been finalised and the old server was unusable, Shadow and her husband quickly set up a temporary home for the nana on Shadow's personal server that could be moved seamlessly to the new one once it was in place.
The move began taking place, and as such, CritiquingChrist would check into N99 with an occasional update of the progress. Upon one of these visits she saw a post from BunnyWuffles who stated CritiquingChrist should check her pms. The pm pertained to the possibility that the hack could have been deliberate and not random, it also covered thief activity in the community. CosyCole too, sees this message on N99 from BunnyWuffles. CosyCole in the office asks CritiquingChrist to not speak with Bunny. CritiquingChrist replies that the pm was in regards to the hack and file sharing. And she would cease speaking to Bunny if it made Cosy feel compromised.
In the mean while, the staff remained excited at the prospects of the new move. We suggested taking on more Sim Vibe sites, an idea that was shot down immediately from Cole. Needless to say, this response was unsettling to some of the staff who felt that the advantage to moving to a free server was to expand the project. In addition to the denial of expansion, we were also informed that Cosy was considering the older nana sets would become available per single donation for each. This of course was debated because many felt it was in violation of what the Nana was supposed to represent. It was finally settled on the idea that you had to be a donating member for four months to get access to older sets. (An idea that many revs are still uncomfortable with.)
Regardless, it soon came to CritiquingChrist’s attention that the thread from the moderator's forum concerning BunnyWuffles was copied and pasted on a thief forum, where it became public fodder. CritiquingChrist was alarmed because not only was it a breech in security, but the publicity was endangering the peace agreement made with the RT. Finally, she was embarrassed that her bending to Cole’s desire to not speak with certain people was made public, and she was equally ashamed that she may have hurt Bunny’s feelings. Accordingly, CritquingChrist being angry, posted an abrasive thread in the BRR office, in which she referred to the cut and paster in a very derogatory manner.
A staff member was offended, because in their understanding, the cut and paster was a fellow staff member, something CritiquingChrist was not aware of. When she was told she was offensive by the other staff member, she did not understand how it was possible that a fellow staff member did this. CritiquingChrist then called CosyCole on the phone, where Cosy preceded to tell CritiquingChrist it was an inside job. She also told CritiquingChrist that she was worried about ShadowMistress and suspect of a few other staff members because she did not have root server access. She did not have ftp access, the new banana was sitting on a new domain which was not registered to her, and she had no contract.
CritiquingChrist, after ceasing the telephone conversation, returned to the Nana to find Shadow and the other suspects mentioned, equally proclaiming they were offended. Now CritiquingChrist was alarmed, because she shared the suspicions with Cosy that perhaps she was in danger of losing her site, or being trapped in a contract that demanded large sums of money. An argument ensued in which CritiquingChrist began voicing her suspicions, and in turn the others were blaming her.
CritiquingChrist went to Cosy and told her she desired to leave the forum. At which time, Cosy requested she stay and make a case of evidence against those who were attempting to “steal her five years of work.” Critiquing informed her she would think about it. Cosy told her she must hurry for the others were pushing her to remove CritiquingChrist from the position as revolucionario. Two days later, as CritiquingChrist was working on the case, she went to the Nana to find a thread in the moderator's forum that told her she was removed. CritiquingChrist posted what she had available at the time, and left believing Cole was forced into the decision (as she was warned she was being pushed.)
CritiquingChrist, Maxine (whom had resigned as a moderator after the RT incident) and CosyCole engaged in conversations concerning how if she is indeed being taken advantage of she must act. It was discussed that a special set should be made for donating members, and a personal letter of explanation sent. A new server should be acquired as soon as possible, and the donating members rewarded again when the site was set up. In lieu of a plan for the future, the conversation kept returning to how Cosy did not own her own domain, and would be trapped into staying on Shadow’s server. This was not making sense to a handful of the staff members, and hence they began speaking independently in regards to what was occurring.
As we spoke with one another over a period of two weeks, things slowly became revealed as bridges were made and open communication became possible. We began discovering how a great deal of the information we were given from Cole was in contradiction among personal accounts of interaction. While CritiquingChrist and Maxine were being told Shadow was the cut and paster and was taking Cosy’s forum, aided by Gookabee and RedRhiannon; Shadow, Gookabee and Redrhiannon were being told by Cosy, that CritiquingChrist was the cut and paster, Maxine the set sharer, and they were out to “get revenge for the argument”. Needless to say, it came to light there was a great deal of lying, twisting, inconsistencies and insincere interactions, which were beginning to point in Cosy‘s direction.
The most alarming of which:
- Cosy professed she does not honestly “love anyone online”.
- We were informed she paid a 51% Denmark income tax on all paypal funds received, yet when researched on Denmark’s income site, the brackets contradicted Cosy‘s claim.
- There were several donations collected by Cosy which were never fully dispersed.
- A DNS trace on the .cc domain showed that Cosy was being dishonest when she claimed to not own the domain.
- It was revealed that Cosy was indeed sent a contract, she simply refused to sign.
- Cosy told many revs she refused to sign because this contract demanded “outrageous” fees. Upon reviewing the contract it was found the contract stated: “The Banana Republic Revolution and all associated sites” would be hosted for free. Hence, Cosy was dishonest concerning the content of the contract.
- Cosy made accusations of thievery and betrayal, merely changing the name of the accused in accordance to who she was telling the story to. These actions lead to a torrid affair of deep suspicions and hurt feelings. Hence, we feel as if we were deliberately lied to, our friendship, trust and good intentions abused.
The largest hurt however, was knowing how much time and effort so many people put into Cole’s vision, only to find the very person they thought was their sincere friend, was without true feelings of regard. Even still as we write this, we hold back a wealth of inconsistencies and evidence because we still have lingering feelings of good will towards Cosy. We honestly do not wish misery or misfortune on her, we wish she would have addressed these issues with us in a direct manner, and all of this could have been avoided. We have no desire to start an RT, we have no desire to wound her or mock her, or bring pain to anyone in this community. We simply wish to be truthful with the community concerning why ten staff members are leaving/have left the Nana. We equally wish to convey our hope that people do research into the history of Cole before bonding with her, so that more pain can be avoided. We believe and hope we are conveying our hurt and desire for sincere relations in a truthful and succinct manner, without brutality.
This passage in life is over for us, or so we wish it to be. If however, we are victimized in the future by Cosy, many will come forward in their defense with entire copies of moderator threads, personal e-mails, pms, ims and any other physical points of evidence we are in ownership of. We are sorry to the people who warned us, we did not believe you. We hope you can understand why through your own experience, and come to accept our apologies. We are especially sorry to the good supporters of the Vibes. You deserved the truth of what was happening, and you deserved it much sooner. Please know we were in pain over not being able to tell you, but it took us a while to realize the severity of the situation, and longer still to figure out how to handle it. We hope you understand.
Truthfully and regretfully yours,
More than half of Los Revolucionarios
Super, ich bin wieder dabei!!
Aber lass dir sagen, es hat sich gelohnt, nur jetzt nach dem Crash ist irgendwie noch nix schönes neues Dabei gewesen *
, sind die denn schon wieder am basteln...
